1.Positive Predictive Value of Sonographic BI-RADS Final Assessment Categories for Breast Lesions
Nursyahirah @Sheila Salinah Md Bohari ; Norzailin Abu Bakar ; Sharifah Majedah Idrus Alhabshi ; Nur Yazmin Yaacob
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2021;17(No.2):91-97
Introduction: We want to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV)
of BI-RADS ultrasound, as well as PPV and NPV of BI-RADS ultrasound lexicon. Methods: A total of 517 ultrasound-guided breast biopsy cases were performed within three years. A total of 324 cases remained after 193 cases
were excluded from this study. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of overall BI-RADS and PPV for
each BI-RADS categories were calculated from the data when compared with histopathological examination (HPE)
finding. One observer evaluated four criteria of BI-RADS ultrasound lexicon; margin, echogenicity, posterior artefact
and internal echo from static sonographic images to determine the PPV and NPV of sonographic BI-RADS lexicon
based on HPE correlation. Results: There were 236 (72.8%) benign and 88 (27.1%) malignant lesions. The overall
BI-RADS has a sensitivity of 93.18%, specificity of 66.95%, accuracy of 74.07% with PPV and NPV of 51.25% and
96.34% respectively. The PPV of each BI-RADS categories were; BI-RADS 2 (9.09%), BI-RADS 3 (3.27%), BI-RADS 4
(39.02%) and BI-RADS 5 (91.89%). The highest predictive value for malignancy was irregular margin (52.3%) and for
benign was well-defined margin (89.7%). Criteria for margin and posterior artefact had a significant association with
HPE (p<0.0001) in differentiating between malignant and benign breast lesions in breast ultrasound. Conclusion:
Overlapping benign and malignant sonographic breast lesion descriptors tend to influence radiologist’s decision to
overcall final BI-RADS categories. The margin and posterior artefact are the important criteria in BI-RADS lexicon in
differentiating benign and malignant breast lesion.
2.Hepatocellular carcinoma: A local registry on risk factors, imaging patterns, treatment strategies and overall survival
Manju Tambe Raja ; Nur Yazmin Yaacob ; Wong Zhiqin ; Chik Ian
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2021;76(2):151-156
Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the
common death-causing cancers worldwide. This liver
malignancy is primarily diagnosed using radiological
imaging techniques. Most of the patients in Malaysia present
late and were diagnosed at an intermediate or advanced
stage of Barcelona Clinic of Liver Cancer (BCLC). This
causes a limitation on the treatment options for the patients.
Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective crosssectional study of HCC cases within a five-year period in our
center with data collected from Hospital Canselor Tunku
Mukhriz (HCTM). This study examines the HCC risk factors,
the pattern of diagnosis, treatment options and overall
survival.
Results: The findings from this study showed that viral
hepatitis was the highest risk factor in which most of the
patients were elderly males who presented with abdominal
distension. In addition, given the high prevalence of
metabolic diseases Malaysia, it is predicted that the number
of non-alcoholic steatohepatosis (NASH)-related HCC cases
might increase. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) proved to have no
significant role in the detection of the disease. The number
of patients detected at early BCLC was minimal, resulting in
limited options of treatment. Overall survival of our HCC
patients was poor at 17 months.
Conclusion: We conclude that HCC patients in HCTM mostly
presented at late stage to hospital, hence limiting the
treatment options and resulted in poor survival rate. Disease
awareness should be implemented at primary care level to
detect HCC at its early stage. Subsequently, a
multidisciplinary hospital team is required to manage the
disease at its different stages of presentation.